Suicide Silence - You Can't Stop Me (2014)
So sometime after the tragic death of vocalist Mitch Lucker, they (very respectfully to Mitch's legacy) decided to recruit Eddie Hermida of All Shall Perish to take over on vocals, and people were immediately split on "WHICH IS BETTER??" but truth is, both of them have unique vocal styles and can't really be accurately compared, they're both great in their different ways. I am particularly a fan of Eddie Hermida's high-pitched shrieks that are frequently found on this album, and I think Mitch Lucker would be happy that they didn't get a guy that sounded exactly like him to replace him, and furthermore, all of the lyrical tributes they pay to him on this album while slowly moving on. I was actually pretty excited to hear this album when it was announced, and holy shit, this was just as disappointing as when my grandma (who couldn't even fucking remember my name) bought me a cool remote-controlled car when I was 5 and my cat chewed off the antenna over night. I didn't even have 24 hours with that motherfucker until that fucking bitchass cat (who had a mental breakdown, killed a kitten, and then climbed into my roof and died above the toilet, so I fucking smelled her rotting ass for an entire year, fucking asshole) destroyed it. I loved that cat, but fuck that cat.
This album is good in a "ooo yea this heavy" kinda way, in the way that it can occasionally be a little entertaining and certainly nothing to say "it not metal it gay p.s. am i cool yet" about on a shitty metal forum online, but fuck this is just so.. Generic. Not even generic in the way that Suicide Silence was before, because sure, they were a bit generic at times but enjoyable, but this is just a pile of fucking shit riff-wise and even lyrically. I don't know if it's because I can actually understand what Eddie Hermida is saying, but some of these lyrics are fucking trash! Remember how Mitch Lucker sounded pissed as shit and talking about how he was gonna bludgeon a dude to death? The most violent lyric on this album is literally just about wanting someone to cease to exist. When you couple that with "WE SING THESE SONGS SO YOU DON'T DIE!!" in appropriately titled "Don't Die", it becomes apparent that not only were the lyrics written in two minutes, but that they were really trying to appeal to their newfound Tumblr crowd that were miraculously "moved" by the passing of Mitch Lucker despite never really giving a fuck about Suicide Silence before.
I think the worst offender of all of them has to be "Sacred Words" because it has a weird poppy beat in the chorus, and is lyrically another Atheist anthem that Mitch Lucker had previously done so many fucking times with this band. Another weird lyrical trope on this album is just how they keep on continuing the theme of "You Can't Stop Me" with general lyrics about being a tough guy. I have no idea why Cannibal Corpse's vocalist Corpsegrinder and The Dillinger Escape Plan's vocalist Greg Puciato popped up on this album as guest features because they don't really add anything to the songs, and they're so quickly out that it's almost laughable. Maybe they realized how mediocre this album was gonna be and scrammed? I don't know. This album has everything that -should- work for a much better album: A great vocalist, good instrumentalists, and a history of good songs, but outside of some kinda entertaining parts, it's just.. There. Safe, by-the-numbers, and almost exactly what you'd expect from the band but without any real heart or any particularly hard-hitting tracks. Maybe the album should've been called "As My Guitar Gently Chugs" because that's all I'm really hearing here outside of Eddie Hermida screaming middle-school lyrics about Atheism and how he'll overcome whatever. Here's hoping for the next time around.
6/10
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